Amidst the discussion of cetaceans in captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium, a one-week-old baby seal is recovering at the aquarium’s rescue centre.

The seal pup was discovered by kayaker Reuben Burge off the coast of Vancouver Island.

“He was making these gaspy type of yelps. Some of them would actually be vocalized but other ones were just very gaspy,” Burge told CTV News. “So it definitely did look like he was distressed.”

“I’ve never seen a pup on its own, especially for that amount of time and that high above the water level,” Burge said. “It was quite bizarre to see this.”

Burge called the rescue centre to find out how to move the 11-kilogram pup.

“I used a jacket, picked him up, tried to get his face facing away from me ‘cause he did have some teeth and he was trying bite me a little bit,” he said.

The animal was sent to the centre in Vancouver on Saturday. Antimony, as it was named, was the 81st seal pup to come into the aquarium this season.

As Antimony was being rescued the park board meeting on cetacean captivity was going on in Vancouver.

If cetaceans are banned from the facility the aquarium said it could mean staff reductions and possible revenue loss that would affect the work done at the rescue centre.

It costs $1000 for one seal to be rehabilitated. That funding comes from the cost of admission to the aquarium as well as private fundraisers.

If all goes as planned Antimony will be released back into the wild in two months.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Alex Turner